Witherspoon's speed was an important addition to the defense last season.

Another guy who missed all of 2009 and was essentially a rookie last season is tackle Peria Jerry. He's a #1 pick. I guess this is the year when either he makes a breakthrough or he's considered a bust.

The Falcons have a passing attack that's going to give teams problems. Roddy White on one side and Julio Jones on the other was a real challenge for Pittsburgh on Saturday. On 4 consecutive plays, the Falcons threw to White, then to Jones, then to tight end Tony Gonzalez and then they ran Turner up the middle. That's a lot for a defense to protect against. Great balance. The o-line looked pretty good, too.

The defense remains a work in progress. The secondary made two first-half mistakes that cost 2 touchdowns. The pass rush was intermittent. The run D was pretty good.